Athletic supporter



July 5, 1949- a. s. VAN voom-ns ATHLETIC SUPPORTER Filed Dec. 15. 1945 Patented July 5, i949 .signor to United...Elastic Gorporation, East- .hampton, Mass., .a corporation of Massachusetts Application December 15, 1945, Serial No. 635,245

a This invention relates to supporters of the type much. Worn by men, especially whenengagedin athletics, although their use is not confined to athletes. The'inventionaims todevise an article of this character whibhf-wih be exceptionally 6 Claims. (01. 128-458) comfortable while alsowbeing unusually econom- ,ical to manufacture.

- The nature of the invention will be readily understoodtrom the following description when read in connection with theac'companying drawings, and the novel features will be particularly pointed out inithe appended claims.

Inthedrawings,

Fig. l is a perspective "view of a supporter embodying thisinvention and Figa2is a planv-iew of a section of -a combined elasticand non-elastic webbing from which the pouch of the supporter shown in Fig. l is made.

:According to this invention, a special webbing is woven comprising 'a. middle elastic section 2 and two selvage :sectionst and 4, integral with the middle section, but containing no rubber or other elastic elements. Such a webbing can be produced in automatic looins by known methods of weaving, the elastic filling being introduced by a special shuttle independent of that which carries the non-elastic filling. Because the rubber thread 5 is disposed almost exclusively in lengths running fillingwise of the goods, and the web is woven under considerable fillingwise tension, the elastic thread also being under considerable tension, the non-elastic portion of the elastic section Zflbecomes crinkled when the tension is released. The puckers or crinkled portions so formed are indicated ate in the upper righthand part of Fig.2.

Inproducing the pouch of the supporter shown.

in Fig. 1, a-suitable warpwise length of fabric is out from a web of the character shown in Fig. 2, and the opposite raw edges of the section so cut ofi are turned over and hemmed, care being taken to make the lines of stitching come between parallel vertical lengths of the rubber thread 5. Next, the upper non-elastic selvage portion 3 of this cut section is folded over and stitched to form a fiat tube 3', Fig. 1. Also, the lower selvage section 4 is shaped in any suitable manner such, for example, as that customary in this industry, to form the bottom 4', Fig, 1, of the pouch.

. A suitable length of narrow elastic webbing is cut to form the waist band 6, and its ends are inserted in the opposite ends of the tube 3' and stitched to this tube, as indicated by the lines of stitching 6'. Or, if desired, these ends may be stitched together after the section Ii has been threaded through the-tube 3, and then the waist band may be run back :far enough through the tube 3' to position the splice approximately in the middle of said tubular part 3'. It is considered preferable to have thissplice concealed and for thisreason it is ,=placed,-as just described, and is held there with sufiicient stitches for this purpose. Except for thisycentral attachment, however, the waist band is free to expand and contract inside thetubulargpart 3'.

At any suitable point in this process of manufacture, the ends of the leg straps 1-1, which also customarily consist of lengths of narrow elastic webbing, arerstitched to the lower "nonelastic end portiond' .of. the pouch and to the lower edge of the waist band 6.

A supporter made in this manner is exceptionally comfortable because of the vertical stretch afiorded by the elasticsection 2, and it iseconomical to manufacture, dueto the nature of the construction .and, particularly, the fact that the non-elastic.zsections 3 and 4 of the webbing are made integral with theselastic section. Hence, the operations required in making the pouch are materially reduced. Further contributing to the comfort of the wearer is the fact that theielas-l ticity of the entire lengthof the waist band 6 is utilized. 'I'hishas not beenstrue in prior art con-q structions, so far as Iiam aware, because the non. elastic part of :the pouch has usually been stitched for its-full horizontal length to the waist band, and the elasticity of thispart of the waist band, therefore, has been lost. Itshould be noted, also, that in this construction all'of the stitching in the pouchis performed in sections of it comtain'ing no rubberrswith the bare exceptionof the two points at the opposite longitudinal edges of the pouch where the; stitches merely cross the rubber. Elimination of the elasticity of these edge portions by the stitching, however, is not detrimental, and the more important point is that the stitching nowhere crosses rubber threads which, if out by the needle, would materially reduce the elasticity of the affected parts of the section containing the rubber and permit local sagging without elasticity. This has been a serious objection to prior art constructions in which it has been attempted to use elastic webbings. The total amount of stitching required is exceptionally small, which fact, also, contributes to the economy of manufacture.

In some cases the waist band is made of considerable width and therefore requires a stiffener to prevent it from buckling and forming an unusually is needed at the upper end of the elasticsection than at the lower end.

While I have herein shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be evident that the invention may "be embodied in' other forms without departing from the spirit or scope thereof.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim as new is:

1. That improvement in methods of making supporters of the character described, comprising the steps of cutting a section from a web of woven fabric including a central elastic strip flanked by two non-elastic selvage strips, the central section including rubber thread giving it elasticity in a fillingwise direction only, the cut edges of said section extending fillingwise completely across said web, shaping said section to a pouch form, making a wide tubular hem in one of said nonelastic portions, threading a waist band through said hem, securing the'ends of said waist band together inside the central portion of said hem but leaving it loose in the tubular hem at other points, and securing leg straps to the other nonelastic portion and to the waist band;

2. A supporter of the character described, comprising a fabric pouch having a seamless elastic section forming the body portion thereof and stretchable lengthwise of said pouch, a nonstretchable section, integral with said elastic section and extending from the upper edge of the latter, and a supporting member for said pouch attached to said non-stretchable section.

3. A supporter of the character described, comprising a fabric pouch having an elastic section stretchable lengthwise of the pouch and forming the body portion thereof, two non-stretchable sections integral with said body portion and located at the top and bottom, respectively, of said body portion, said bottom non-stretchable section being shaped to form the lower part of the pouch, and means attached to said top and bottom non-stretchable sections for holding the supporter on the wearers body.

4. A supporter of the character described, comprising a fabric pouch having an elastic section stretchable lengthwise of the :pouch and forming the body portion thereof, two non-stretchable sections integral with said body portion and '4 located at the top and bottom, respectively, of said body portion, said bottom non-stretchable section being seamed between its lateral edges to contract them and to shape the bottom section to form the lower part of the pouch, and means attached to said top and bottom non-stretchable sections for holding the supporter on the wearers body, the points of attachment of said means to the pouch being entirely outside of said elastic section.

5. A supporter of the character described, comprising a fabric pouch having an elastic section stretchable lengthwise of the pouch and forming the body portion thereof, and a non-stretchable section integralwith said body portion and forming the top of said pouch, said non-stretchable section being loopedover upon itself to form a tubular top for said pouch, and an elastic waist band adapted to encircle the wearers waist and extending loosely through the greater part of said tubular portion, said waist band being secured in said tubular top of the pouch at an intermediate point in the length of said tubular portion so that the waist band can expand and contract inside the encircling tubular portion but will be held against sliding movement bodily through said tubular portion.

6. A supporter of the character described, comprising a fabric pouch'having an elastic section stretchable lengthwise of the pouch and forming the body portion thereof, and a non-stretchable section integral with said body portion and forming the top of said pouch, said non-stretchable section being looped over upon itself to form a tubular top for said pouch, and an elastic waist band adapted to encircle the wearer's waist and extending loosely through the greater part of said tubular portion, the ends of said waist band being joined together and to the tubular portion of said :pouch at approximately the middle of said tubular portion but being otherwise loose in said tubular section and free to expand and contract therein.

GEORGE S. VAN VOORHIS.

REFERENCES CITED The following referenlces file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS are of record in the. 

